Thailand’s 81-year-old King Bumibol Adulyadej, who has been hospitalized since Sept. 19, continues to receive treatment for a "lung inflammation" and is undergoing physical therapy, the royal palace said.
Thailand’s stock market continued a decline yesterday after rumors circulated earlier this week that the king’s condition was worse than reported.
Bhumibol was hospitalized on Sept. 19 for fever, fatigue and lack of appetite. A statement from the royal palace late on Wednesday said the king’s doctors asked him to stay in the hospital “for dietary supplements and physical therapies.” The statement said his “general condition is good.
However, lung inflammation which has reduced will require some time to fully recover, as is the case for the elderly.”
Lung inflammation can be a symptom of pneumonia, but the palace has not called it that.
Although the palace has issued almost daily statements on the king’s condition, they have not been very detailed, and no photos of him during his hospital stay have been released. He has rarely made public appearances in the past few years.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand index fell 2 percent on Wednesday to close at 731.47, its largest decline in nearly two months. In afternoon trading yesterday, the index dipped 8.3 percent to 670.72 before trimming losses an hour before closing to between 5 percent and 6 percent.
The disappearance from the public eye of the revered king has caused great concern in Thailand and the region where he is seen as a stabilizing figure.
Bhumibol is a constitutional king with no formal political role, but he has repeatedly brought calm in times of turbulence and is widely revered as the country’s moral authority and a unifying figure.
The heir apparent, his son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, does not yet have the stature of his father.
Thousands of well-wishers have crowded daily outside Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital and events have been organized around the country in honor of the king.
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